Cell: Animal studies have found that small antibodies are effective in treating and preventing new coronavirus infections.

!--webeditor: page title" -- In a new study, --- researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Texas at Galveston Medical Branch, the University of British Columbia in Canada, and the University of Saskatchewan analyzed the smallest antibodies to date that can be fully and specifically neutral with SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
tiny antibody molecule, which is 10 times smaller than full-size antibodies, has been used to build a drug called Ab8 that has the potential to treat and prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections.
study was recently published in the Journal of Cell under the title "High Potency of a Bivalent Human VH Domain in SARS-CoV-2 Animal Models".
from Cell, 2020, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.007.
the researchers reported that Ab8 is very effective in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infections in mice and hamsters.
its tiny size not only increases its potential to spread in tissues to better contain the coronavirus, but also makes it possible to do so through alternative routes such as inhalation.
important, it doesn't bind to human cells--- which is a good sign that it doesn't have side effects on people.
, co-author of the study and director of the Infectious Diseases Section at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said, "Ab8 not only has the potential to treat COVID-19, but may also be used to prevent people from contracting SARS-CoV-2.
larger antibodies are already effective against other infectious diseases and are well-resistant, which gives us hope that Ab8 may be effective in treating COVID-19 patients and may also protect people who have never been infected and have no immunity.
", a tiny antibody molecule, is a variable heavy chain (VH) domain of immunoglobulins, the body found in the blood.
it was discovered using SARS-CoV-2 hedgehog protein as bait and "fishing" in a library of more than 100 billion potential candidate antibody molecules.
Ab8 is produced when the VH domain is fused with a portion of the immunoglobulin tail, which increases the immune function of full-size antibodies without increasing volume.
as a newly established company backed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Abound Bio has authorized Ab8 to develop globally.
Dimitrov, co-author of the paper and director of the Center for Antibody Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was one of the first people to discover antibodies in the original SARS-CoV virus in 2003.
years, his team discovered powerful antibodies against many other infectious diseases, including those caused by MERS-CoV, dengue, Hendra and Nipavirus.
antibodies to Hendra and Nipavirus have been evaluated in humans and approved for clinical use in Australia on a compassional basis.
clinical trials are testing recovery plasma -- which contains antibodies from people already suffering from COVID-19 -- as a treatment for those who struggle with the virus infection, but for those who may need it, there is not enough plasma, and it has not been shown to be effective.
that's why Dimitrov and his team set out to isolate genes that encode one or more antibodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which would allow mass production.
In February, co-author Dr. Wei Li, assistant director of the Center for Antibody Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, began screening large antibody sub-banks made from human blood samples and found a variety of therapeutic antibody candidates, including Ab8, in a record time.
then, a team at the Center for Biological Defense and Emerging Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Galveston National Laboratory, led by Dr. Chien-Te Kent Tseng, tested Ab8 using the SARS-CoV-2 live virus.
at very low concentrations, Ab8 completely prevents the virus from entering the cells.
with these results, Dr. Ralph Baric and his colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tested different concentrations of Ab8 in mice using modified versions of SARS-CoV-2.
, Even at the lowest dose, Ab8 reduced the carrying capacity of infectious viruses in mice treated with it by 10 times compared to untreated controlled mice.
Darryl Falzarano of the University of California, Saskatchewan, and colleagues evaluated and found that Ab8 was also effective in treating and preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters.
Sriram Subramaniam and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia have discovered how effectively Ab8 can amn the virus by using sophisticated electron microscopy techniques.
S. Mellors said, "The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge for humanity, but biomedical science and human ingenuity have the potential to overcome it."
hope that the antibodies we find will contribute to this victory.
" (bioon.com) Reference: 1.Wei Li et al. High potency of a bivalent human VH domain in SARS-CoV-2 animal models. Cell, 2020, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.007.2. Tiny antibody component highly effectivest SARS-COV-2 in animal !-- studies.